Cooking with Gas

Inspiration hits like a cast iron skillet
and he writes.

Mood sets itself--
each sentence a gleaming clever
as his fingers find the keys
and put the plot to boil.
Characters,
some well done,
others half-baked, begin to breathe--
to speak his words
no longer his own.

Beating on the backspace button,
he struggles in vain
to whisk himself away
from the tale's tenacious grip
but the story has set
and the diners are at the door.

Prompt Tuesday (Image 12)

Hearing the Hammer 

My father once told me
he wanted to sculpt--
to release the hidden treasure
sleeping in the stone.
But our backyard in suburbia
wouldn't accommodate a grand adventure
and he didn't have the time.

Michelangelo.
Da Vinci.
Rodin.
I cannot look upon their work
without feeling
my father's hand upon my own
wanting
to pick up the chisel--
to breathe life
back
into his desire.


To view the prompt go to: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/2013/07/community-e-bulletin-prompt-tuesday_8.html

Prompt Tuesday: July 2, 2013 (Image 11)

Capitulation 

Focus blurred by bleary eyes struggling
with the language of legalities--
theretofore and henceforward,
the soul surrenders to the whispers
of ancient wisdom pleading
a case against pragmatism--
making art of monotony,
pivoting plain proposals
into poetry.


To view the prompt go to: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/2013/07/community-e-bulletin-prompt-tuesday.html

Prompt Tuesday: June 25, 2013 (Image 10)

Luna

Majestic and cold
she sits among diamonds
yielding only
when the morning begs
an offering of gold


To view the prompt go to: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/2013/06/community-e-bulletin-prompt-tuesday_25.html

Prompt Tuesday: June 18, 2013 (Image 9)

Unexpected Ember 

Caught in a web of memory,
she could not breathe.

His gruff tenor,
unmistakable,
resounded from behind
the closed door--
warm to her ears
as it shattered
what was left of her heart.


To view the prompt go to: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/2013/06/community-e-bulletin-prompt-tuesday_18.html

Prompt Tuesday: June 11, 2013 (Image 8)

Momentary Lapse

A path to nowhere
in the middle of nowhere
centered somewhere
in the dark recesses of my mind.

Fighting a temptation toward panic,
I stand still
breathing--
focused on being
now here.

To see the prompt go to: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/

Prompt Tuesday: June 4, 2013 (Image 7)

A Bench with a View

Put me at ground zero
when the folly of men
push that demonic button.

Let me feed the ducks
and contemplate the clouds of
some serene vista
as I vaporize.

It is enough to be at the mercy
of political foolishness
without being made
to suffer its aftermath.

To see the prompt go to: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/

Prompt Tuesday: May 28, 2013

Lungwamen (Lenape: "To Dream")

I watched the crowded fog creep
down the Blue Mountains
in a billowing rush
of silence.

As I stood scanning the oncoming oblivion,
a cross-eyed crow stared at me
from both sides of the veil.
Cawing, he climbed into the mist--
his black wings dissolving
into white nothingness.

As I waited,
walking trails wound back
to a time without train tracks,
without hollowed out houses
and miles of broken asphalt--
where derelict steel stacks
were something as yet to be imagined.

A mountain hawk pierced
the unseen stillness with its cry
and turned my attention
to the gushing Lehigh. Here,
I could sense an ancient wolf
padding along side the sacred spirit
surveying a modern world
arrogantly disconnected
yet ignorantly dependent.

To view the prompt go to: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/

Prompt Tuesday: May 21, 2013

Diminished

She came in answer
to his call only
to ultimately
find herself lacking.

Molting inadequacies,
she shed angelic feathers
with each woeful tear.


See the prompt image at: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/

Prompt Tuesday: May 14, 2013

Wretched Vacancy

Silence unbroken
by dust motes floating
in a single shaft of filtered blue
beaming through a ragged rip
in the old drawn drapery.

Knees pulled to chin,
bare toes gray with grime
save neon pink polish,
chipped and flaking, paired
with purple fingertips and
bright brown eyes burning
holes across the ceiling.

No one is here
as a floorboard creaks overhead.


See the prompt image at: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/

Prompt Tuesday: May 7, 2013

Le troisième cavalier

The black horse trudges every track,
a cloud of dust raised
from each plodding hoof
on would-be well tended land.

Its rider, with weighing scales clanking,
whispers darkness on the wind--
encouraging the corporate farmers
to let growing fields lay fallow
and alter grain for yield
regardless of nutrition.

His skinless grin
and empty sockets survey
the line of women walking,
suffering harassment,
forever risking rape,
to collect contaminated
water for their families.

A human right means nothing
to a servant of apocalyptic greed.


See the prompt image at: http://showoffscommunity.blogspot.com/

Prompt Tuesday: April 30, 2013

A Visit with Norma Desmond

She told me
her cat was Gloria Swanson
returned from the dead
and ready for her close-up.
I told her
she needed to move farther away
from Sunset Boulevard
and to cut back on the microwave popcorn.
She persisted
and placed the black and white beauty
on my lap
where it perched
with hooded eyes
and a haughty flick of its whiskers.
As the feisty feline climbed up closer,
apparently to sniff my nose,
the thought occurred that psychosis
could very well be contagious
as the kitty began to purr,
"DeMille... DeMille... DeMille..."


Prompt Tuesday?
Bekkie Sanchez invited me to the Google+ Community called "Show Offs" where she posts a writing prompt on Tuesdays and gives those who wish to participate a week to enter. Bekkie also posts the "Prompt Tuesday" entries on her Show Offs Community Blog. If you have a moment, please check out the community and the blog. The community is about a whole lot more than writing.